Fashion

Perhaps I just run to the defense of an underdog? Seems I usually agree with them.

I haven't read any nice reviews of Marisa Tomei's dress on the red carpet. I LOVED it! Before I heard or read any reviews, she was the one I thought looked beautiful and original. I am a firm believer in dressing the way one feels reflects their personality and style. It seems to me the world wants a bunch of clones walking around, and when anyone dresses or styles their hair a little bit differently than the 'popular or going' style, they get slammed.

Recycled Crazy Quilt

A crazy quilt I made from recycled wool clothing. All stitching was done by hand.

Collections

Collecting has always been a passion of mine. I love it!!! Whether it is marbles or costume jewelry, the joy of searching and finding a piece to go with a collection makes my heart skip a beat. I've been thinking I would stop collecting, since dusting and keeping 'all' this stuff clean is not as much fun as it used to be. A few months back I found an old camera at a sale, of course I bought it, then Saturday at my late sister-in-laws auction, there were a couple of old cameras, now here they sit, next to the one and only that I did have. They are fun to look at, even if there is no functional reason to have them...other than for the joy of collecting.

Bittersweet

There are times you get something, when it doesn't feel so nice to get it.

An auction of my late sister-in-laws' belongings was held this past Saturday. She passed away a year ago due to a complication from breast and lung cancer. She was young, with a lot of living left to do.
Seila had a table she had bought a few years ago, and I loved it when I saw it in her house. It was the only thing I really wanted from the auction. There were many things I would like to have had but did not need.

The table, an old library table, now belongs to me. It is much too large for the scale of furniture I have in my house, and my house isn't that big, but the table is here and I love it. Yet, it feels somewhat selfish to like it, to have it in my house.

Life... it seems to me, always taste BITTERSWEET. Good people should now have to die young!

Show Me Your Garden

This chair called out my name when I walked by it at the Goodwill, and with the price tag of $2 I couldn't resist it, no matter how hard I tried. It makes the prefect trellis for my jasmine, and looks very much at home. Last summer, every evening at the same time, a tiny chipmunk would come and sit on the edge of the chair and have dinner. I tried my best to get a pic of him, he would have none of that.

My heart and soul thirst for spring; winter has not thrilled me the way it has in the past. For now, pictures of green and warmth warm me, waiting for spring to arrive.

Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.

Miguel de Cervantes

Simple Things

One afternoon last summer I walked out the patio door and snapped this photo; I have looked at the photo at least 3-5 times each week. I titled it "Simple Things". I placed the dried out gourd on a shelf the beginning of summer, loving the look of it, it reminds me of how something 'simple'...can be so beautiful. I need simple things in my life, they help unravel the knots... some by chance, some of my own making.

...with an eye made quiet by the power

of harmony, and the deep power of joy,

we see into the life of things.

--William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey

Collage Cards

Again, I can't throw away even the smallest piece of anything, including paper. I make my own cards from clippings, scrap paper and pics from magazines. A sample of some I have made.

Recycled Jeans - Picnic Blanket For Bella

Since I have trouble throwing out anything, I can't bear to throw out old jeans or clothes. It takes some time, but worth the effort to wash up old torn or stained clothing, cut them apart and make them into something beautiful and functional.

I have made several jean quilts. They are not my favorite to make; they are heavy to work on and hard on the fingers, wrist and hands. I just finished this one last night, a picnic blanket for Bella. I sewed the binding on with my machine, this way, it will be durable and with-stand any abuse.

Hopefully, she will dress up with her sun hat and purple sunglasses, gloves, a frilly dress adorned with lots of beads, imperfect applied lipstick and blush of course... and enjoy a breezy Sunday afternoon picnic with her girlfriends... and make some wonderful memories to draw upon later in life.

In my opinion, these are a great!

beauty is in eye of the beholder

I know that the things I find lovely and beautiful are not always the things other people find attractive. I have things in my house no one else would dare have. This is ok with me; I do not want a house that is a carbon copy of another. There is something about rust, chips, tears and dents that I am drawn to. Perhaps it is knowing I am so imperfect and yet, God loves me anyways, even with all my imperfections.

Last August,while driving through the neighborhood I spotted a trash heap. My eyes were fixed upon this wrought iron sticking out of a box. Anything RUSTY always catches my attention. I stopped the car and marched over to the heap of trash...there it was, this beautiful Spanish looking wrought iron and lovely decorative piece. I grabbed it, quickly, before another whose love for the 'old and rusty' spotted it.

It now hangs above my hall closet and looks right at home. There is the initial "D" in the center, which means it surely was waiting on me for deliverance.

Visual Altered Art Journal

I could not get these to post in the order I wanted them.

Some pages from an altered art journal that I made from a discarded outdated calendar. I do a lot of scrapbooking and art journaling, but do not spend much money on buying scrapbooking supplies... I like using things I find or have around the house. I love doing this type of journaling.

Recycling

My father was  big into recycling even before it was the GREEN thing to do. Maybe this is the reason I have such a hard time throwing anything out? I made this 'throw' or 'wall art' from old clothes and old ties from Germany that had been discarded.

I love 'CRAZY QUILTS'...this is a version of a crazy quilt. All silk.